Changeable sign



(Mode L) J. 0. BBLKNAP. Changeable Sign.

No. 241,185. Patented May 10, I881.

Inw/nZOI'.

Wiineauscd:

N. PEYEHS. Photo-Lithograph, Wilhh'lgiun, D. C.

UNITED STATES JACKSON 0. BELKNAP, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CHANGEABLE SIGN.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 241,185, dated May 10, 1881. Application filed March 1'], 1881. (ModeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACKSON OGDEN BEL- KNAP, of the city of St. Louis, county of St. Louis, and State of Missouri, have invented a new and usefullmprovement in Signs, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a new and useful sign for outdoor purposes, changeable as well as rotatingboth ways, right or left.

The construction is as follows:

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a side elevation of the sign. View with part of the bracket B broken away, to show the construction and arrangement of the concave surfaces A A A, and the Hat surface M and m on being in section.

A A A are three concave panels of wood, metal, or other material otany shape, attached to a rod or tube, G, and arranged so as to bring the backs squarely to the center toward the rod or tube G, and the edges together forming a triangle. Four or more panels can be used, if desirable, in the same way with the same effeet; but three are sutlicient to produce the desired action. These concave panels are to have letters, pictures,or ornaments painted or otherwise attached to their surfaces. When the panels are in position with the rod or tube G, as described, the sign is pivoted in a frame, with metal or glass bearin gs, or between brackets, in a vertical position, and upon being exposed to the Wind will movein one way at one time and the other at another.

When it is desirable to introduce a series of these signs into one long frame to make along sign, each set of panels on each rod may have Flo. 2 is a plan the same letter on them painted in the same or in different colors, so that when operated upon by the wind the separate signs will move in different directions, oscillating or rotating first one way and then the other, to the right and left, producing a most novel and singular eli'ect.

Flat narrow panels may be introduced between the concave panels where they come together at the edges, and be covered with gold, silver, or mirror-glass, with letters and ornaments on them also, or may be left plain, to simply reflect thelight as they move, thus adding attraction to the sign. 0n the upper end of the rod, above the hearing, may be placed any decorative device, such as an eagle.

The sign as described, when mounted upon a tube, may he slipped on a gudgeon, and will then operate the same as when pivoted in a frame or bracket.

This sign has no wind cones or fans attached to move it, but depends entirely upon its peculiar shape and arrangement of the panels, operated upon by the wind.

1 do not claim the pivots, rod, or gudgeon, nor concave surfaces, as new.

I. claim- The sign consisting of concave panels, as described, with lettcrs, pictures, or ornaments thereon, and attached to a rod or tube set in pivots or on a gudgeon constructed to more both right and left by wind-power.

J. O. BELKNAP.

Witnesses O. F. SEcoR, H. G. KELLY. 

